It is a vast agglomeration of holes, craters, ring formations,
a complicated intersection of crests--in short, a distracting volcanic
network flung over the blistered soil. The ebullitions of the central
eruption still evidently preserve their original form. As they first
appeared, so they lie. Crystallizing as they cooled, they have
stereotyped in imperishable characters the aspect formerly presented by
the whole Moon's surface under the influences of recent plutonic
upheaval.
Our travellers were far more fortunate than the photographers. The
distance separating them from the peaks of _Tycho's_ concentric terraces
was not so considerable as to conceal the principal details from a very
satisfactory view. They could easily distinguish the annular ramparts of
the external circumvallation, the mountains buttressing the gigantic
walls internally as well as externally, the vast esplanades descending
irregularly and abruptly to the sunken plains all around. They could
even detect a difference of a few hundred feet in altitude in favor of
the western or right hand side over the eastern. They could also see
that these dividing ridges were actually inaccessible and completely
unsurmountable, at least by ordinary terrestrian efforts.
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